Customer Reviews

Corner Men: The Great Boxing Trainers

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Forget the title! This is a "How To" book. How To Box, How To Win Fights, How To Lose Fights and, even, How To Watch Fights - but especially How To Write the Best-ever Boxing Book.

If you appreciate A. J. Liebling, then you'll be delighted by Fried's important book. He clearly has a great passion for his subject, and it comes through. He captures the lingo and the feel of an earlier era with precision and subtlety.

All the chapters in this book were captivating. Ronald Fried shows that the most interesting and knowledgeable people in boxing are the trainers. The chapters on Whitey Bimstein and Charley Goldman truly give a flavor of New York when Stillman's gym was still the epicenter of boxing.

This is one of those books that's tough to read "just once";there are no dull spots-or characters in it.For anyone who loves reading about boxing characters,you can debate endlessly about which colorful character in this terrific book makes the most impact;teachers in any field should put this book in their required reading lists.Two of the chapters in this classic are devoted to Freddie Brown and Ray Arcel;seeing them in Roberto Duran's corner was like seeing my grandparents at my Bar Mitzvah.

If you're a boxing fan with a fair amount of knowledge of the sport, this book is one that needs to be in your library. Cornermen tell their stories about what it was like working with some of the best fighters ever. The book is detailed, yet far from dry, and has story after story that tells how the cornermen got the most out of their fighters and what they thought about them. One of the best boxing books I've read.

I picked this up on a recommendation from a friend who's into boxing. That's the last time I ever ask him for advice. I found in a used bookstore on a recent visit overseas to Prague.

While its obvious Mr. Fried has knowledge. he doesn't know how craft a project that makes you want to keep turning the page. Its just information. His book has all the depth and warmth of the back of a trading card. He must have spent months putting this book together but to what end, a boring book.

You want good boxing books try:
Night Train. The Sonny Liston Story. By Nick Tosches

And

Finnegan. Self Portrait of A Fighting Man. By Chris Finegan